Goodbye
by teejplease
Summary: This was finally the end... so why did she feel like she was dying inside? LxJ


Her heels clicked down the hall, sharp, relentless, seemingly sure. Inside she faltered and faded like no other but, as she always did, she kept her head up and kept on moving forward.

She followed the man in the standardized grey security outfit down one hall then another and then another. It seemed as if they wanted her to _not_ know her way throughout the building, as if they believed she was here to break him out of these cold, grey, windowless walls, but why would she do that? Why would she help a man such as him?

They reached their destination and the guard let her into the room and then positioned himself in front of the door.

He sat there on his cot, waiting for her (always waiting for her) glacier eyes flashing, brown hair a mess. The prison garb made her pause for a second, she still was accustomed to seeing him being dressed in only the latest fashions that drew attention to him and armed him with one of his many weapons – charm and good looks. He looked as innocent as ever, a small, sweet smile quirked his lips and his eyes almost seemed to be _laughing_ at her.

"Hello Leese," he greets. And she hates the familiarity of it all, how it easily slides off his tongue like he knows her (he does) and worse still, how it makes her legs weaken a little, just a little. His beautiful voice hasn't lost any of its musical quality, despite being stabbed in the throat with a pen several months before. She feels cheated and relieved at the same time and hates him even more for making her always feel so _goddamn confused_ all the time.

"Hey Jack," she replies, sitting down. She baits him so effortlessly. He doesn't rise to the occasion. In fact, his smile seems to grow bigger.

"So, it's finally over, eh?" he asks her, like they're two good friends or two people who've just broken up and gotten over each other (never). His ease with her still irks her; he is pleasant and enchanting as per usual and, as per usual, it makes her heart beat a little bit quicker- just a little, of course.

"I guess," she can be cool and nonchalant as well when need be. He knows that better than anyone.

His eyes slide over her form, taking in the black skirt, red camisole, and blazer, and she feels a blush coming on and she ruthlessly shoves it down. She chose this outfit for a reason; she wanted him to want her. Hell, she _needed_ him to want her – just so he could feel a tiny bit of what she felt. Just so he feel could the guilt and _wrongness_ of it all.

"Why are you here then? You got what you wanted," he tells her. He doesn't finish the statement with the proper _'me… dead,'_ as he should.

"I never wanted this," she tells him. "Never… you of all people should know that." And she's glad she's said that because it makes his eyes a little less hard and a little more lovable and she wishes that they could have been something besides enemies, something besides foes in a fight for life and death. She wishes that he hadn't worked as a "manager" or that she hadn't worked as a hotel manager… She wished that they were simply ordinary people who sat next to each other on a plane. Free to live, free to laugh, free to -.

"Hey Leese," he interrupts her thoughts and the smug grin on his face says he knows it.

"Yeah?" She doesn't bother hiding her irritation – the sick bastard likes it anyways.

"Do you ever wonder…" he trails off and almost looks uncertain for a moment - almost.

"Yeah, Jack?" she prods. This is the last time she'll ever see him and knows that after today she'll be able to move on with her life – after today she won't have to fearfully glance over her shoulder.

"If we had met under different circumstances," he starts, "do you ever wonder what we could have been?"

She snorts. "Of course," she says. "And I don't wonder… I know."

He simply waits for her to continue – she has him rapture (always has).

"I would have realized sooner or later you were a creep and would have put you down like the dog that you are," for a second she thinks she sees the vulnerability in his eyes, the hurt, but then its gone in a second and he tosses his head back and laughs. It sends shivers down her spine and she's glad he'll no longer have power over her (and her heart) after this moment.

There is a knocking on the door. The jail's doctor comes in bearing the needle that'll stop his heart (and hers) and this entire mess and she suddenly can't breathe and she wishes that … she feels tears in her eyes and she blinks them back but instead they push forward – goddamn stubborn tears. She hates how her body never does what she tells it to. She hates that her heart doesn't either because sometimes at night she dreams he is smiling at her, the nights he isn't trying to kill her. Sometimes at night she dreams they fall into bed and she can't stop it. Not for the life of her.

She turns to leave.

"No," he stops her, "stay… _please._" It's the please that gets her – she knows it cost him more than she imagine and she nods and sits next to him.

She watches as the needle enters his skin and inside she is screaming and outwardly her face is full of tears and the makeup she so carefully applied to make her look invincible and untouchable is running down her face and she can't help but release one tortured moan.

He smiles at her and takes her hand. The guard makes to move forward but she shakes her head. He's already vanishing, and fast. "It's alright," he murmurs, his voice slurred. Already the effects of the drugs take over him and she can feel him getting colder and colder and his once bright eyes are getting dimmer and dimmer and she hardly thinks he can see her. "I wonder, too."

"What?" she gasps out with a ragged breath.

"I wonder sometimes… what we could have been," he confesses. His smile grows bigger, "And I know I would have _never_ been good enough for you." He leans forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, their first and last kiss. She can feel that damn smile burn her skin.

Then he leans against her for minutes and floats away until the hand she is clutching is as cold as her insides feel. Only when she is sure that he is gone does she whisper, "Goodbye, Jack." She feels the echo of his kiss and knows she'll never be the same – she's free now to move on but she doesn't think she can.

"_If we had met under different circumstances do you ever wonder what we could have been?"_

She releases her sobs finally and collapses against the wall.

_We could have been in love._

And then they come and take his body away.

And just like that, it's over.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Red Eye_, sadly I am still in high school and very much a minor. And everyone knows that sucks.


End file.
